By playing "safe" and following a commercial formula to mark a successful re-entry into movies for Chiranjeevi, Khaidi No. 150 turns the plight of modern farmers into a poorly concocted film that is, ironically, devoid of genuine comedy or wholesome entertainment; this one is purely for the fans who want to see the Boss back in action.

SYNOPSIS

"Kaththi" Seenu (Chiranjeevi), also known as Khaidi No. 150, escapes from prison and is about to fly to Bangkok when he sees Lakshmi (Kajal Aggarwal), who looks similar to his childhood sweetheart. After failed attempts at wooing her, Seenu returns to his former plan of flying abroad when he witnesses a group of people shooting someone in a car. Upon intervening, he sees an injured Shankar (Chiranjeevi) and exchanges identities with him in order get the police off his track until he is able to secure the money he needs to escape abroad. When a minister mistakes Seenu for Shankar and offers him a large amount money, Seenu accepts and takes Shankar's place at an Old Age Home where he learns about Shankar and his fight for securing farmers' lands in his village and is faced with a personal dilemna: will he take the cash and run away or will he refuse and fight for those who are unable to fight for what is rightfully theirs?

WHAT WORKED

– I haven't seen Kaththi in Tamil so I can't compare the two, but the story of Khaidi No. 150 which was inspired by the former is focused around a prominent issue. The film does a good job of portraying its severity and explaining the various careless ways in which capitalistic development is hurting villages and farmers. These emotional scenes are the strongest part of the film.

– I found one of the fighting scenes and the way in which Seenu handles the situation after the climax to be intriguing. Chiranjeevi was also most effective in these scenes where he was able to display his aptitude in emoting long dialogues and more serious emotions.

– Devi Sri Prasad's background score and the song "Neeru Neeru" worked well in depicting the plight of the farmers.

– Chiranjeevi's ability to portray two different characters was evident and his performance as Shankar in the flashback reminded me of some of his previous performances. His performance as Seenu after the interval was also quite powerful.

WHAT DIDN'T

– I appreciate Chiranjeevi for his fabulous and natural performances in many of his previous films, but I found his portrayal of (pre-interval) Seenu to be somewhat artifical and overdone. He is a seasoned actor and I think he could have put together a better, more nuanced performance for that character if he really tried.

– A lot of the scenes in the film reminded me of previous films, making it very predicatable.

– The attempts at comedy in the film miss their mark more often than not. Who's clever idea was it to include a joke about raping women in the midst? It's not funny.

– The romance between Seenu and Lakshmi...there was barely any and what little there was was pretty atrocious. If you're gonna rope in an actress who is much younger, at least justfy it with some solid scenes that make it more believable for the audience. It seems like Kajal was in this film just for the songs and, while she looks beautiful, the pairing is certainly odd and made me wonder if she really needed to be in the movie at all. Successful films like Dangal have already proven that the Indian (even the Telugu) audience is willing to watch a good movie even if it doesn't have a romantic angle attached to it.

– Most of the fighting in this film is routine, but the climax fight sequence is especially bad. Why did they bring those tough fighters at the end if he was gonna beat them up with one punch anyways? It wasn't depicted well and took away any little credibility there was up until that point.

– The songs are irrelevant to the film and are forced into it at odd times. Though a few are catchy, they're below expectations and seeing Chiranjeevi dance suggestively with Kajal in "Ammadu Let's Do Kummudu" and with Lakshmi Rai in "Ratthalu" was a bit weird for me.

– Ram Charan had a completely useless cameo in the middle of a song. He just appeared, danced and left and it made no sense, but I guess fans don't need logic.

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